


Transcendental Tug of War: Rancid Vibes vs Unstoppable Sunshine

by dropout_ninja



Category: Transformers: Cyberverse
Genre: (but has questionable tastes), (except Shockwave), (he's a grouch), (in humor and in good decision making), Afterlife, Canonical Character Death, Cheetor is too nice for his own good, Crack, Crack Treated Seriously, Gen, Humor, Implied Relationships, Jealousy, Post-War, Shockwave being salty, everyone is happy, he's just a spiteful guy, honestly that's about 99 percent of the fic, post war fluff that a ghost disapproves of
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-12
Updated: 2020-12-12
Packaged: 2021-03-10 21:54:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,296
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28034241
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dropout_ninja/pseuds/dropout_ninja
Summary: "Wherever Bumblebee goes on Cybertron, Cheetor will be with him."What he couldn't have known when promising such was Cheetor wouldn’t be alone in said haunting.Or: Shockwave and Cheetor are stuck in a balance of power and it’s unfortunately quite a bit more boring than one might think a struggle over the fate of the Allspark would be.
Comments: 3
Kudos: 15





	Transcendental Tug of War: Rancid Vibes vs Unstoppable Sunshine

**Author's Note:**

> Transformers and its characters do not belong to me. All rights go to their respective owners.  
> This is unbeta'd, so I do apologize for any mistakes.
> 
> Also all thanks goes to Marfacat for inspiring this oneshot's creation.  
> No warnings should apply other than Shockwave having "bad vibes" (canonical wordings, not mine) and canonical character death. This is pretty much crack trying to disguise itself as a fic that takes itself seriously, so there is that.

The Allspark was meant to hold all sparks within it. It was not expected to interact with sparks outside its transcendent and mortal barrier. For a spark to remain outside, coating it, twisting it to different designs, poisoning it- -it all defied traditional thought. 

Shockwave, as he tended to do for any scientific or ethical law, thought that over and threw it away.

Now, in hindsight, he wondered if that was as great an idea as originally calculated. On the one hand, he had succeeded where none other had before. He had designed technology (he could always design technology others thought impossible, or else too immoral to attempt) capable of letting a spark still living reach the Allspark and take hold of the well of life from the outside rather than entering it, still conscious, powerful, until that spark's energy could alter the Allspark itself. On the other hand, some second party had taken said achievement of technology and joined him in that state. 

No matter how toxic Shockwave altered his spark's energy to be, the sheer unending naivety and hope worn by the spark of a guardian that had functioned in isolation for so very long met his force and nullified it.

At the start, that had equated to a struggle back and forth. Energy fought for dominance. Shockwave attempted to wrap around the Allspark in totality as he had in those brief moments before Cheetor had arrived. But that grew tiring. Two equally balanced forces stood no chance of truly supplanting the other. Hoping otherwise was indulging in a fool's dream. Shockwave did not indulge. He was no fool.

Struggles had moved to obstinate glaring until that had moved to grudging observation of the world outside, or inside, or however it was applicably viewed from this transcendental state. 

It was only out of half interest for watching how the decepticons fared without him. Yes, he had died for that cause. Perhaps Megatron would remember that as time passed and would make sure the rest knew they owed everything to the most capable scientist that had ever once lived. But it had hardly been an action ordered by the warlord because it had been an action only the likes of Shockwave could have come up with in the first place. He designed this end, this beginning. The motivation hadn't been so personal as to earn praise from decepticons from here on out any more than it had been of stiff loyalty to Megatron's orders. It had been a test. A test to match his self-rated efficacy against the most powerful (Vector Sigma close behind) aspect of cybertronian life. 

He'd won. Then the guardian had arrived to nullify the success.

It could have potentially felt more empty than it did. It could have been some sort of senseless wash of experience and being without existing, without mental capabilities attached to time. It wasn't. 

It was boring. 

So it was for his own mental stimulation that he humored Cheetor when the guardian tried to point out activity in the world left behind or thought there was a point in friendly chatter. As if Shockwave felt any inclination to view him as anything but an annoyance. As if anyone could have the patience to attempt to make him their friend after the long process of the war transformed him to his best, if antisocial, potential. As if.

Getting told about something "my friend Bumblebee" or "my friend Hot Rod" did while Cheetor had been alive playing around with them was all drab blather. The younglings had evidently never done anything of note and their actions or words were not nearly interesting enough for Cheetor to think those stories deserved to be suffered through by another. 

Getting dragged around this mystic world to see the events on Cybertron 'in person' was pointless. Cheetor argued that he was keeping a promise to, but of course, _"his friend"_ (this sort of obnoxious sense of obligation was one good reason why Shockwave had absconded friendships). Shockwave complained but, in fairness, had nothing better to do than watch the living world as if it were broadcasted entertainment. 

Getting put through all this for the sake of alleviating boredom because there was simply nothing else to do led to his fair share of scathing commentary and Cheetor’s fair share of densely misunderstanding every insult tossed his way.

It all was pointless, dithering, drab, and he would still rationalize why he 'put up' with it till the day he died again. For the most part, it was because he simply had nothing else to do. For another, it was out of a sense that gnawed on him unnamed that he may get swept away by the Allspark's gravity well and lose this remaining sense of self and capability for thought. For another still, it was from the idea that neither of them would get swept away and so it really was Cheetor's duty to keep them mentally stimulated since it was his fault they were in this mess. If the guardian hadn't shot his own spark into this state, Shockwave could have just won and that would have been the end of it. 

Cheetor had made his victory cheap and short and that left him needing to undermine anyone living’s victories in order to keep his shortened one superior. 

And that was the final rationalization, though it was one of the more unfiltered ones: watching the world let him give mental commentary on all those failures and embarrassments his old enemies went through and that added more justification to his own ability to feel good about his current state. 

Yes, Cheetor tended to point people out in order to compliment them or cheer for them or lasso Shockwave into a distracted conversation about them wherein the guardian talked nothing but sappy positives. Shockwave watched them all with the opposite airs. He had reasons to insult every one of the individuals worth paying attention to and took pleasure in watching them fail to live up to his own unprecedented victory with the Allspark.

Seeing those annoyances in their lives now offered Shockwave some vindication. For instance, while he had managed to corrupt the Allspark, his most obnoxious rival to power now went about with even less respect for himself than he'd worn before Shockwave's death. Really, the scientist almost couldn't believe Soundwave would put up with it. For all his talk, he really did have nothing to show. 

Most of the times they'd focus down on that cybertronian, it'd be to some drab scene or other. The rest of those worth noting were much of the same. The quintesson invasion was certainly concerning, but things became all too complacent in its passing. Megatron and his allies from an alternate dimension were at least devoted and tactical about their ambitious plan. Shockwave could wish he was there for such scheming, if Shockwave was one to _wish_ anything.

But other than them? 

After the borders had been drawn, cybertronians had grown oddly lax. There were few scuffles. There were no murders. How? These were two armies that had hated and fought each other for millennia on end and yet they just existed on the planet without making any attempts to subvert the peace? Cheetor had praised this to no end. Cheetor was an annoyance. 

Other than the warlord's own planning, Soundwave had briefly ceased being a bore content with pointless games and started the makings of a coup. The brief time spent conniving against Megatron, alongside one of Shockwave's old experiments, had been something of worth, when compared to his other actions (dancing, music, harassing people, as per the norm, and socializing with people, an unappealing subversion of the norm). It'd failed, of course, but it'd meant he'd been trying to match himself against some superior. Obviously without Shockwave there, Soundwave had aimed at the next fitting challenge (he always did aim at those he had no chance of beating; didn't his very rivalry with Shockwave prove that?). But then the entire disaster with the alternate realities had struck and that brief dip into espionage and coups had ended. Really, that disaster had ended more than Soundwave's latest hobby. Even as that annoyingly talkative "guardian" had blabbed on in worry or else conviction that his "friends" would be safe, the duplicate Megatron lost and was dragged away. The extra 'perfect decepticons' were similarly dealt with and Shockwave almost wished- if wishing weren't a pointlessly emotional thing to do, especially as someone trapped in an energy world- that he could be there to take one apart. An army of perfect loyalty and strength certainly held a sort of logical appeal in contrast to an army that contained variances like the oafs Clobber and Lockdown, the incompetent drama seekers such as Soundwave, and the deluded egotistical backstabbers like Starscream. The latter was truly an irksome thought to consider even here, in this transcendental phase where Starscream could hardly come screech nonsense at him ever again. The former 2IC had held such a foolish god-complex; he'd played with the Allspark and thought himself one with it, stronger than it, and yet who amongst the decepticons actually managed to overpower the Allspark? Shockwave. Of course. Shockwave attained any goal previously thought unreachable with a 99.8% margin for success. Yet in life, his emotional leader had not noticed this success rate. He'd held a competition to determine a new 2IC after Starscream's supposed death. A _competition_. He'd held a competition rather than simply handing it to his most intelligent option. Which was more logical? To hold a circus of a race that let anyone participate or to simply pull aside the officer that was intelligent, empirically loyal, and strong? With policies like that, little wonder maniacs like Starscream secured such an important position for so long. Shockwave had technically died for Lord Megatron, but that did not make the mech any less of a fool in that instance: nor did it erase how the scientist himself had come up with such a one-way trip to death and was the _only_ one to ever do so. 

Because who could stand up and say that their spark alone was powerful enough to poison the Allspark? Not Starscream. Not the duplicate Megatron. Not anyone. 

The only one potentially close to him in regards to that success was the supposed guardian of the Allspark, who was, at the least, possessing of a spark powerful enough in its _goodness_ to outbalance all the poison Shockwave's spark had offered. 

He supposed (though not with much pleasure) that at least he was trapped with someone of similar caliber to himself. Other than his former work with Wheeljack oh so long before, it was rare Shockwave sat in close proximity to someone who could match his strengths with their own. 

It was one small comfort among the sheer annoyance that such a bubbly, talkative, illogical _child_ posed. Strength of spark was nothing like strength of mind; Cheetor was no Wheeljack. He was not even as sharp as Soundwave, even if the guardian at least never played dramatic music needlessly just to annoy him. Half of the most biting, intelligently crafted insults he came up with went straight over the guardian's head. Cheetor gave no indication of understanding insults unless they lacked any subtlety. Either he was faking obliviousness to rid Shockwave of one more weapon or else he truly was a dense idiot. 

Shockwave had made no conclusion on that matter.

But enough of his current match in this tug of war for the Allspark. He was trying to focus on reminiscing over all those reasons he had to feel vindicated (not glad, glad was not an emotion Shockwave felt a point in aiming for; vindication was another matter of pleasure altogether) over his current lot in (not)life when compared to all those left behind. If there were reasons to be vindicated, then he had reason to accept the guardian's presence as an unfortunate but unimportant side effect of his greatest victory.

So back he went to observing the world outside the Allspark. There was nothing that interesting out there since the duplicate Megatron and his perfect soldiers were defeated. The border was dissipated under Optimus Prime while decepticon leadership recovered. By the time said leadership had finished said recovery, the world was shockingly happy together.

Quite disgusting, really. After all the time Shockwave devoted to war, age-old warriors forgot to dislike each other the moment he was dead? The sheer amount of cross faction interaction was mind numbing. Yes, during the standstill on Earth when a truce was briefly discussed, there'd been interactions. He'd been trapped 'reminiscing' with Wheeljack and being reminded of the stupidity he himself used to engage in before the war started to open new career opportunities. It seemed to have made the other scientist happy, for what that counted. It wasn't as if the attempts at peace talks had lasted. 

When it had ended, the faux peace and affability did too. He'd caught sight of his former experiment stiltedly comparing weapons with the autobot Prowl during the ceasefire and then caught sight of her immediately turning on the 2IC the split second it ended. That was right. That was natural and sensical. This ceasefire happening on Cybertron now was not. If it had been a tense state of truce held belligerent by both sides, it would have made sense. Not relaxed guards. Not ridiculous behavior at the one established oil house on Cybertron. 

Everyone was guilty of it though. Cheetor made that much obvious whenever he'd excitedly point attention out to some bland autobot to the next. 

_"Oh! Hot Rod is going to intern with the Prime! He must be so pleased!"_

Was he supposed to feel happy about the supposed success of some young autobot?

_"Look! Bumblebee is going to open a stadium for a game revering some quadrilateral device and anyone can join!"_

Goody. Some autobot was trying to revive a pointless and boring old age sport for cross faction participation. Why couldn't the bot have at least picked a more strategic or exciting sport? As long ago as it was, Shockwave still remembered going with a bright-optic'd Bumblebee to multiple gladiator matches. At least those had been worth watching. Why did the peacetime Cybertron have to askew interesting facets of the past for the nostalgic pointless ones? 

_"Watch, watch, it is the two that once were given Allspark upgrades for illfit reasons and now see them?"_

How could he not, when the guardian kept dragging his attention any which way that he felt was worth looking at? Shockwave would never have otherwise decided to listen to any more of Sky-byte's poetry or Jetfire's pontificating than he'd already been cursed to hear during his lifetime. Being dead was supposed to be ultimate peace. Bad poetry was a bit detrimental to the experiencing of peace.

And so on, and so on. 

The bar once run by an enigmatic being was now run by the autobot scientist Perceptor. Or former scientist. Moving from such a field to mixing drinks and managing business was an embarrassing downgrade in Shockwave's opinion.

It was visited daily by recognizable faces that should have been preoccupied hating each other or sneering at those who wore a different faction brand. Instead, Wheeljack laughed with Perceptor over the bar (wasting time), Grimlock and Arcee monopolized the seating area's screen to cheer over _Alien Hunt!_ (hoax science), an apparently defected Clobber was making a racket with Lockdown and Rack N' Ruin at the table they were trying to build a balancing tower on (pointless game), Windblade was laughing with Bumblebee (that those two played an instrumental role in kickstarting all the events culminating in this scene was not lost on Shockwave nor Shockwave's irritability), and Soundwave was hijacking the bar's music system to play some truly awful racket while Shadowstriker and the autobot Hot Rod watched- 

That, at least, caught Shockwave's attention for longer than a split second. He stared and watched and, if he'd been the type for laughter, would have indulged in some dry monotonous chuckling. It was just so embarrassing to witness. He'd considered this mech a rival to power? The clown wasn't bothering to secure power at all during the vacuum left over from the tumultuous events of late. All those events which had happened after Shockwave's death had been reason after reason for he himself to supplant leadership. Tactical failures could not be accepted time after time. With all the effort Soundwave had put into stopping him from gaining the positions needed to improve high command's efficiency, he really would have expected the mech himself to be gunning for such a position as well. Not wasting time now dancing in some atrocious way and fistbumping the wannabe prime when finished.

_"Behold! Everyone is getting along again! Is it not great?"_

The guardian of the Allspark was an optimistic fool. 

But Shockwave could accept some pleasure in this. So long as he was indulging in this power struggle with Cheetor for the balance point of the Allspark, he would have to put up with getting dragged along by the hand to some sight or other happening on a far-too-complacent (happy) Cybertron. As such, he might as well find contentment in watching those like Soundwave embarrass themselves.

Dancing at a club. Playing more obnoxious music. Acting as unorthodox as always. All with extra pointlessness.

Yes. It was acceptable. 

Being stuck here with endless, over-friendly chatter was worth it. So long as Soundwave continued to fall into obscurity and embarrassing commonality, Shockwave found himself winning. Some pointless dance at a pointless bar was nothing compared to the strength of one spark to corrupt the source of all cybertronian life. Nothing the living had done as of yet compared to that victory. 

This current state of affairs was worth it.

"Ah! I have found another good one from Earth!" Something tapped his shoulder, or rather the presented alternative that a disembodied spark offered in these energy forms. "They say this list has the very best of ‘duck’ jokes to 'quack you up'!" Cheetor interrupted all attempts at spiteful reminiscing. 

Shockwave's optical cover dropped lower to present his main optic in a more pronounced glare than the default. The guardian seemed to miss the cue that his enemy was _not interested._ Cheetor found undue amusement in forcing the decepticon to listen to truly atrocious “jokes”. At the rate in which he was enduring them, Shockwave would be forced to stop the influx and _educate_ the guardian until he would understand humor ranged from pathetic to tolerable and only intelligent comedy could count as the latter. 

At the point where that was a feasible option, however, Shockwave may as well just fully educate the fool on everything until he was stuck with an unwanted companion that at least could offer stimulating topics of musing.

Cheetor always managed to miss the disinterested, threatening cue. If that were not the case, Shockwave would not have already had to endure a flood of supposed humor passed on to the guardian from the likes of Bumblebee or Earth media.

The guardian faced him with his usual dense smile and the scientist didn't bother to move from the spot even if Cheetor might find it a victory he didn’t turn away. He was busy preparing to filter nonsense.

"Are you ready? What happens when a duck..."

Whatever else was said truly didn't matter. All the "jokes" Cheetor insisted on making him suffer through were the same: a mockery to his intelligence. 

It was truly a frustrating shame there was nothing better to do in this state of energy power struggle than just put up with hearing them all. 

**Author's Note:**

> (Cheetor, meanwhile, still thinks Shockwave is a creepy decepticon, but if his friend Bumblebee used to get casual high fives out of the guy, then Cheetor will consider it a win every time he gets an absent-minded one too) (Cheetor, if one remembers, is the one who thought reviving Starscream was a hunky-dory idea and I love him and his questionable choices) 
> 
> Thank you for reading! I had fun venturing into TFC for a brief moment and I hope you enjoyed as well


End file.
